Poison

I was stirred out of my sleep by the rustling of hay at the entrance of my hut. I opened my eyes to see a blurry silhouette of a creature standing there.

“Who’s there?” I mumbled in Changeling.

“Uh Queen Chrysalis?” I heard the tiny pony voice say.

“What is it?” I asked, in English this time.

“I was wondering, would it be possible to sleep near you tonight? I have been having nightmares and it’s keeping me up.” She said as she walked over to me.

“No one sleeps in my quarters,” I grumbled at her, however it did not stop her.

“Only for tonight, I’m sorry I won’t be in your way. Just being in the same room as somepony else helps a lot.” She lied down next to me and set her head down.

“Since you have already made your bed, I suppose.” I rested my head again and started to fall back asleep when I heard the pony say,

“I know I said that I didn’t envy your position Queen, but I kind of lied. I do envy you. Even though you have a lot of work to do and get little respect out of your subjects, you at least still have someponies to look after. Someponies to keep you from being alone.” I smirked and opened my eyes to see the dark, never-ending landscape before me.

“Oh child, for someone who talks about it so personally, but it seems you know little of true loneliness. Real abandonment is feeling alone, even in a crowd-“

“Full of others?” Terra said cutting me off. This shook my attention as she had actually finished my sentence. Did she actually understand solitude like I did?

“Yes that’s right,” I said. I heard her give a little chuckle and roll around in the hay.

“It’s funny, in just the past day I actually smiled more times and meant it than I have in the past few years.”

“How do you mean Terra?” I asked her.

“Well I haven’t had enough people be genuinely kind to me through my travels to actually make me smile. Most times I just plaster on a fake smile so ponies don’t think I’m rude or mean. Yet this might be the first time since I was a little filly that I actually met somepony who cared to get to know me, and somepony I can call my friend.”

This jolted me awake; I raised my head and looked at the pony that was now curled up in a blanket resting. She had actually called me her friend. This was it, I thought. Now I would be able to feed off her friendship and restore my strength. I could sense her energy; it was like a blue cloud hanging around her body.

It was powerful; this pony had so much energy building up in her just waiting to be released. Now was time to recharge and with this fillies friendship feeding me I’d become just as powerful as I was with Shining Armors love. My horn began to glow and I stared to take in the energy like a vacuum.

At first the fresh energy was sweet and rejuvenating, I felt like a phoenix being reborn. However after a moment the energy became bitter and even painful. As more of the energy entered me, it felt as if I was being jabbed with a million needles on my insides. I eventually had to pull away and I collapsed on the ground. I was panting heavily, but I had to get away so Terra wouldn’t wake.

I flew as far as I could get before I eventually lost my energy and fell down. I was gasping for air and I rolled over on my side. What happened? I could feel the power, the energy flowing through me, restoring me to my most powerful state, and yet her friendship tasted like poison. I don’t understand, I’ve never had a problem with feeding on friendship before and even the weakest bonds gave at least a little substance. So what was it about this pony’s friendship toward me that I could not feed on?

Then it finally occurred to me. I focused hard and sensed that the same cloud of energy that I had seen on Terra was also coming from me. Now it made sense, a Changeling cannot feed on its own love or friendship for another creature. Did I really have these feelings for the child? In my attempt to gain her friendship did I accidently grow attached as well? I didn’t believe I could have such feelings…not anymore at least.